Headhunting
by writergirl75
Summary: As Oliver and Felicity begin to ease their way into new lives, and a new kind of relationship, a new player descends on Starling City with several tempting offers for the Arrow's IT girl. If that weren't enough, there's also the fact that a psycho-killer is terrorizing his city. [Warning - Leaving this posted for it's gooey Olicity scenes, but I won't be completing it. Sorry!]
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I swore wasn't going to do this. I wasn't going to start some epic multi-chapter fanfic…I'd write drabbles and one-shots sure, but I'd save my writing time and energy for my own work. But I was home sick to day and this was all I felt like doing, and I got thinking about Felicity's job interview with Kord Industries that I mentioned in my flash fic, and it occurred to me that this being "Arrow" they'd probably never settle for a run of the mill job interview or introduction scene…and well this monster was born. I don't where it's going…I can't commit to how often it will be updated…but here it is anyway.

* * *

**Headhunting**

_Headhunting: noun (1) the act of searching for new employees, esp. professionals. (2) the practice of trying to destroy the power or position of a rival. (3) the practice, among certain cultures, of decapitating enemies and using their heads as trophies._

**Chapter One: The Offer and The Motorcycle**

"You have got to be kidding me," Felicity said, her agitated voice echoing off the bare walls. She tried to push back from her computer and swore as the wobbly wheel of her cheap chair caught on a seam in the cement and started to tip her over backwards.

"Whoa," Oliver said, catching the back of it and setting her upright. "You okay?"

"Thanks to this ridiculous heat wave there's another blackout on the west side," she muttered, gesturing at the laptop screen in front of her. "The one thing about computer hacking is that the network generally has to have power in order for me to…you know…hack it."

Leaning over her shoulder he said. "So, no progress on the footage from Kord Industries?"

"Oh, no," she said, poking the screen. "I made progress; in fact I was probably two minutes from in. But I'll have to start the whole thing over again once their power comes back on. You'd think a company with such excellent cyber-security would have better power backups in place." She let out a sigh and collapsed her head into her hands, wiping sweat from her forehead. It wasn't something she'd complain out loud about, but compared to the Foundry the air conditioning in their new place totally sucked.

Digg walked over to them. "Didn't that tip seem a little off anyway? I mean even if the new Director of Special Projects at Kord was going to go into business with a low-life like Herb Vraney, it seems weird that he'd invite the guy to his office."

"Well, sometimes villains are stupid," Felicity muttered into her hands.

"And we do need to check it out," Oliver said firmly. "But it can wait a minute. Why don't you take a break?" He gestured toward the small training area he'd set up. "Maybe you should workout with us."

"Oh no," Felicity said raising her head to stare at his earnest stubbled face. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for developing my ninja skills, but it's not exactly the stress reliever for me that it is for you. Maybe I'll go for a walk."

Oliver had been in the process of taking down a pair of the short little sticks he and Digg liked to practice with, but when she spoke he paused a bit awkwardly and said, "Okay, I'll go with you."

Felicity didn't know whether to hug him or hit him. He'd been a little hypersensitive about her safety of late. She had a feeling he was trying to make up for the danger she'd been put in when they took down Slade. The part of her that had gushy feelings for the man thought it was adorable, the part of her that was his partner found it a little aggravating.

"It's the middle of the day, Oliver," she said firmly. "I'll be fine."

He pulled his head back a fraction and she saw his jaw tighten. "I know you'll be fine, I just thought you might want company."

She did smile then. "No, you and Digg go ahead and happily beat the crap out of each other. I'll be back in an hour."

It was actually only thirty minutes later. She'd just finished her iced coffee and was rounding the corner to return to her work when a long dark limo screeched to a halt in front of her, blocking her path across the street. Feeling the hair stand up on the back of her neck she instantly reached into her pocket and hit the newly installed panic button on her phone.

The back door of the limo swung open and a man who could have given Digg a run for his money in the muscle department was suddenly crowding her from behind. "Please get in the car, Miss Smoak. Mr. Kord would like a word with you."

Felicity felt a flash of fear and guilt as a face appeared from the back of the car, but rather than being the famous weathered face of Ted Kord, this was a younger man she didn't recognize. He had messy collar length dark hair and glasses, neither of which did anything to detract from his angularly handsome face. "That's enough Stan, you're going to terrify the poor girl." He flashed her grin. "Though I would like a word with you, if you don't mind."

In spite of the grin, there was a steely determination in the dark eyes behind those glasses - a look that reminded her, for a moment, of Oliver in Arrow mode. "Fine," she said, "but I should warn you…"

The grin widened. "That you've activated the panic beacon on your phone? I'm aware of that."

Felicity opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "How did you…?"

He sat back in the limo and motioned to the seat across from him. "Please, I promise I'll explain. And I'll try to do so quickly enough that we're finished before your leather-clad boyfriend arrives."

Felicity blinked, and more out of shock than anything she slid into the offered seat. "He's not my boyfriend," she grumbled.

The man across from her slid an appraising look over her body, his eyes lingering on her legs beneath her bright red skirt. "Then I imagine that's one of his many regrets," he said, the grin sliding into a killer smile.

"Who are you?" Felicity asked, as the door slid shut.

He extended one long-fingered hand in her direction. "Daniel Kord, pulled away from London to be the newly minted Director of Special Projects for Kord Industries."

Felicity shook his hand gingerly. "Uh…nice to meet you."

He pulled back his hand and picked up the laptop that was open on the seat next to him. "I'd say the same, but it isn't actually the first time that we've met." He typed a few keys on the computer in front of him, "Hello beautiful."

"Excuse me?" Felicity said, frowning.

Flipping the laptop around suddenly so she could see the screen, he said, "I meant your code… not you. Though, in this case…." he raised his eyebrows suggestively

Looking down at the computer screen Felicity saw what was displayed and her heart sank. He hadn't just been aware of her hack; he'd also managed to record every keystroke she had made in the attempt. In the world of tech it was something almost as incriminating as a fingerprint. She didn't know what worried her more, that this man had proof she'd committed a felony, or that there was someone out there who was this much better than she was.

Daniel Kord leaned forward over the screen and lowered his voice. "Now, don't be too upset. I did set this up specifically for you. And just to get your hero's green knickers out of a twist…" he flipped the computer back again, hit a few more keys and turned it around. Displaying now was the exact security footage she'd been trying to locate earlier. Security footage that showed two Starling City police officer's arresting Herb Vraney in an office at Kord Industries. "I planted a little trap for Mr. Vraney, and you will be happy to know he's off the streets of Starling for good."

Startled Felicity stared up at Daniel. "But there was no notice of an arrest."

He shrugged playfully and whipped the computer back around. "I had them sit on that for twenty-four hours…as a favor."

Her face felt numb as she tried to process everything he was saying. "Then you aren't…"

"A secret criminal mastermind? No, not today." he said, and his smile grew a little less flippant and a little more kind. "But I couldn't resist the opportunity to do a little headhunting in the process."

Felicity raised an eyebrow. "Headhunting?" she asked, confused.

"We're looking for a new Chief Technical Advisor for Special Projects. Normally that would be me, but with my promotion, I won't have as much time to devote to the cause." He shrugged his lean shoulders, "So I went looking for the best, and in spite of your ridiculous job title over the past year, I heard a rumor that it was you."

"Me?" she said. She was still shocked but she slowly felt a sense of relief sink into her. At least she wasn't getting arrested.

He spared a quick glance at his watch. "I'm guessing I have approximately two more minutes, so I'll make this quick. I can offer you a great deal of money for your particular expertise and in addition I promise not to interfere with your, shall we say extralegal, assistance to a certain vigilante."

He knew she worked for The Arrow, but that didn't seem to be the point of their conversation. Finally, she realized what he'd said. "You're offering me a job?"

"Yes, my dear, that is the general idea," he said snapping the laptop shut.

"But I didn't get in," she said, looking toward the laptop. "If that was a test, I failed. I mean I should have noticed that the hack was being traced and it took me at least thirty-seconds too long to get through that third firewall."

He laughed, it was a sound of pure delight and it filled the back seat of the limousine. "Another three minutes and you'd have had me." He winked at her. "Not an unpleasant prospect, but I thought I'd cut the power to be safe."

He folded his arms and sat back. "Now, what about the job?"

The limo suddenly jarred to a stop that almost pitched Felicity into Daniel's lap.

With surprisingly quick movements his hands reached out to steady her, "Bloody hell." He looked down at her, "Are you all right?"

She nodded, and he turned around to glance through the windshield, his smile suddenly reappearing. "That's unexpected. Exactly how many not-boyfriends do you have Miss Smoak?"

Confused Felicity glanced around him to see Oliver, in cargo pants and a damp t-shirt, glaring from where his motorcycle had skidded to a stop horizontally across the path of the limousine. Several weeks ago he'd traded his Ducati for a nearly beaten-to-death Honda, but if anything the scruffiness of the bike and his appearance only added to the dangerous edge rolling off of him as he sat in the middle of road.

Nodding his head toward the door, Daniel said. "Step out, if you please. I like this car, and he looks quite capable of doing damage to it."

Felicity reached for the handle and got out. She watched Oliver's face, seeing flash of relief in his eyes before the hard mask slid over his expression. Taking steps toward him, she heard Daniel get out of the car behind her.

"Good afternoon, Oliver," Daniel called pleasantly, as if there wasn't a single unusual thing about their situation.

Felicity saw a flicker of irritation in Oliver's face as he looked at the other man. "Hello, Daniel." His gaze came back to Felicity and roamed over her for a brief second. "You okay?"

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Just startled. Sorry."

His right hand left the handlebars of the bike momentarily and it seemed almost like he was going to reach for her. Then he stopped and clenched it into a fist at his side. "Don't be sorry," the three words were softer and she knew they were meant for her alone.

"I'm afraid I gave your former assistant a bit of scare," Daniel said, coming to stand beside Felicity. He put a great deal of emphasis on the word "former." Then he gave Oliver a smile that had a much colder edge than the one Felicity had seen. "I admit, I didn't expect you to show up for her. Though that may explain why I've heard Starling's answer to Errol Flynn is so cranky all the time."

Oliver blinked twice, the only sign that he was thrown by Daniel's comment. He shrugged, "I was following to make sure she got home safely, and saw her get invited into your car." The way Oliver said "invited" made it sound like a four letter word.

Daniel let out a chuckle. "Of course, of course." His eyes flipped quickly to the rooftops around them.

"You should get going," Oliver said, with a grim smile that didn't reach his eyes. "As you mentioned, Felicity has other friends who'd be less … understanding." He sat back on the bike and folded his arms across his chest, "I'd hate to see an arrow ruin a good Armani suit."

Daniel's smile turned a bit mocking. "Quite right," he gave a shrug. "Nice to know you still recognize the finer things, Oliver; in spite of your change in circumstances."

Felicity saw Oliver's teeth clench. "Goodbye, Daniel," he said, the words grinding out.

Reaching into his pocket, Daniel Kord extracted a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. "Think about my offer, Felicity." It was the only time he'd used her first name, and she had an odd suspicion that the familiarity was meant to rankle Oliver more than anything else. "I'll look forward to hearing from you."

Without another word he turned and climbed back into the limo. Felicity turned and watched the car as it backed up and went around the spot where Oliver still stood parked in the middle of the road.

As soon as the vehicle was out of sight, Oliver reached into his pocket, pulled out an earpiece and tucked it in place. "I've got her. She's fine." There was a pause. "We'll be back soon." He disconnected it, and tucking it away again, he looked back at her, an unreadable expression on his face. "What the hell was that?"

Raising her eyebrows she looked down at the card in her hand. "A job interview, apparently."

She saw him swallow hard and then take a deep breath. He tilted his chin toward the back of the bike. "Get on," he said.

She looked down at her skirt, luckily it was knee length and fairly full, but still, she was going to have to show a lot of leg to climb on the back of that bike. "Oliver..I…"

Now he did reach for her, his hand resting on the bare skin of her arm, just above her elbow. Looking at him, she saw the unguarded expression in his eyes, remnants of something close to panic. "Please," he said, his voice just above a whisper.

She remembered that it wasn't that long ago that every single person Oliver cared about had been in the cross hairs, and could only imagine what it had been like for him to get the signal from the panic button on her phone. Nodding she shoved her purse up over her shoulder, and none too gracefully managed to get on the bike. The seat was uncomfortably hot as she did her best to tuck her skirt underneath her, her other hand resting against the hard line of Oliver's arm for balance.

The minute she quit squirming he kicked the bike to life, and she put her hands on his waist. His shirt was damp with sweat and clung to him, and Felicity had no doubt he'd yanked it over his head as he raced out the door of their new lair. He should have smelled bad, it should have been sticky and uncomfortable, but it really, really wasn't. As the bike took off down the street she found herself leaning forward and wrapping her arms more fully around him, not out of fear, but simply because she could. She wondered if it would bother him, but if anything the tight muscles seemed to relax a little under her grip. In fact, there was only one moment when she had to nudge away all the horrible statistics she'd heard about riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

At the first stop sign he looked back at her, "You okay?'

She nodded and blinked eyes against the dryness, reaching up quickly to push stray hairs out of face.

"Duck your head down behind me," he said, obviously noticing. "It will help keep you out of wind."

As the bike moved forward again, she did as he suggested, tucking her cheek against the hollow between his shoulder blades. She felt the muscles of his back and torso move and stretch against her as he maneuvered the bike, and she closed her eyes, wishing she'd managed to walk a lot farther from the lair before Daniel Kord had stopped her.

He rounded the corner into the alley that led to the lair going a little faster than she was comfortable with and she stiffened. As they came out of the turn, one of his arms dropped to cover hers as if to reassure her. That arm didn't move even as he brought the bike to a stop in a convenient spot, where a slightly larger building blocked the view from the street.

As the bike engine quieted Felicity let herself have one long quiet breath still pressed against him before sitting up. He stepped off the bike and before she could even react he'd reached out put his hands high on her waist and pulled her easily from the back of the bike, setting her down in front of him. He didn't immediately let go, and she looked up at him. They'd been having a lot of these moments lately. Moments where they touched just a little more than was normal and then both held their breath as if waiting to see what the consequences would be.

"You're really okay?" he asked. "He didn't threaten you, or anything?"

She gave him a reassuring smile, wanting to get that haunted look off his face. "No," she said, shaking her head. "I think he was just showing off."

Rolling his eyes, Oliver finally dropped his hold and took a step back. "Sounds like Daniel."

"You know him?" she asked.

Oliver nodded. "He'd run with Tommy and I in the summer occasionally…back in the day. But I never really liked him."

He took a couple of steps toward the door and then stopped, turning back to her. "He offered you a job?"

She nodded. "Chief Technical Advisor for Special Projects."

He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them she could see deep regret in his face. "A good fit for you," he said, his eyes locking with hers.

Felicity swallowed. Even though he'd never directly voiced an apology for costing her her job, she'd seen this look on his face every time the subject came up. "Maybe," she said. "It might work, for now, anyway." She put heavy emphasis on "for now" and to her relief she saw the pain on his face diminish.

"Come on," he said pulling open the door. He wore that easy smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Let's go reassure Digg you're not dead."

Felicity let her eyes wander back to the motorcycle as Oliver stepped through the door. Who knew that a job offer from Kord Industries wouldn't be the most exciting part of her day?


	2. An Office, An Assistant, and Training

A/N: So here's the problem with posting a chapter before you've really thought things through. I've decided I want at least a glimpse into Oliver's head throughout this story, so I'm already screwing with the style and format. Also, and this is a rare problem for me, this chapter turned out really long…so read it in shifts in if you need to

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**Headhunting**

_Headhunting: noun (1) the act of searching for new employees, esp. professionals. (2) the practice of trying to destroy the power or position of a rival. (3) the practice, among certain cultures, of decapitating enemies and using their heads as trophies._

**Chapter Two: An Office, An Assistant, and Training**

"Better, but don't shift your weight so soon," Oliver told Roy as the younger man sent sharp kick in his direction. Oliver spun away easily. "And never lock your knees." As he turned he saw Felicity's eyes on them. Her watching him wasn't exactly a new thing, but there was something more in this gaze, as if she were thinking seriously about something…he felt a sharp stab in the gut that knocked the wind out of him, and realized he'd failed to duck a second kick.

Coughing slightly, he bent over, looking up to give Roy a wry grin of acknowledgement. "Nice."

Roy looked to where Oliver's gaze had been. Then turned back raising an eyebrow, "Distracted much?"

Oliver didn't respond. "Come on, let's go again."

Roy shook his head, looking genuinely regretful. "Sorry, I probably need to head out. My shift starts in twenty-minutes."

"Right," Oliver said, taking a deep breath, and fighting to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He'd been in a round of meetings that Walter had sent up with business advisers and lawyers to try and figure out if there was any way for him to reclaim a major roll at Queen Consolidated. It was a good start, but there was no plan in place yet. And after more resumes and interviews than he wanted to admit to, he still didn't have a job. "See you tomorrow."

Roy nodded, grabbed his bag and headed for the exit. "See ya, Felicity," he called.

"Think he's all right?" Oliver asked, after Roy's footsteps had faded. Both he and Roy had been trying, without much success, to figure out exactly where Thea had gone. Roy had stopped talking about it, but Oliver knew, better than anyone, that sometimes the things you didn't say mattered more than the things you did.

"I don't know," Felicity said, after a moment. "Probably not, but all we can do is be here."

Still looking in Roy's direction Oliver nodded slowly. He took several deep breaths, took a look around him for a moment and then closed his eyes.

The quiet was broken by Felicity calling his name. "Oliver…"

She sounded uneasy and it had him opening his eyes and moving toward her in an instant. "What is it?"

He watched as she folded her arms across herself and tried hard to meet his eyes. She didn't look upset exactly, but something was up. "When you asked if I wanted to work out with you and Digg last week…were you offering to teach me?"

He didn't immediately understand what she meant, and honestly the idea that he knew anything Felicity didn't threw him for a moment. "Teach you?"

"You know," she said. "To fight … like you do with Roy."

Trying to think back to what he'd said that day, his brain got hung up on two unhelpful memories – the sheer terror he'd felt in the first few seconds when Felicity's panic alert went off, and just how good it had felt to have her wrapped around him on his bike. He could see she was waiting for an answer, "Umm… isn't Digg doing that?"

"Yeah," she said quickly. "He's just been a little busier, and I thought…" She stopped and tried to smile, but it wasn't convincing. "You know what, just forget it." Before he could say anything else she turned back to her server set up.

Obviously this meant more to her than he'd realized, and he spent a couple of seconds sorting through his own thoughts. Why hadn't he ever offered to teach her or train with her? There were, he realized, about a hundred reasons why not, some of them perfectly sound. However, at the moment the image that wouldn't get out of his head was Felicity in a very fitted tank top and shorts, wrapped in his arms as he showed her how to break out of a hold. He wasn't sure if that image was there because it was the biggest deterrent or the biggest incentive.

Still, as he watched her, with bent shoulders and a stiff smile, try and work on the computers she was patching together out of next to nothing, he knew he couldn't possibly tell her no.

Walking up behind her, he said. "Felicity?"

Turning, she looked up, and up, at him, and he realized he was standing just inches from her. "I'd be happy to work with you. If that's what you want."

A completely different smile crossed her face then. The kind that lit up the entire room and made him feel like he'd done at least one thing right that day. "Okay, yeah," she said.

Shaking his head at her enthusiasm and his own insanity for agreeing he said, "We can start tomorrow night."

The smile dimmed a little. "After my first day." He could tell she was trying to sound excited, but her voice came out a little strained. "At Kord Industries."

Oliver's smile fell away and he let out a long suffering sigh. "Yeah."

She reached out and gently grabbed his wrist; her fingers were cool and soft against his damp skin, and he couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to have them trailing up the length of his arm.

Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Thank you, Oliver."

"You're welcome." He knew he should move away, but he didn't want to. And he was starting to care a lot less about what he "should" do when it came to Felicity.

She looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "You're not going to make me slap water are you?"

Startled into it, Oliver chuckled. He shook his head, "It's mostly for arm strength and patience, and you've already got the patience part down."

The compliment obviously surprised her. "You think I'm patient?" She asked, and there was an edge of something vulnerable in the question.

He wondered how she could even doubt it. In the past two years he could remember when everyone in his life, even Diggle, had given up on him at one point or another. But not Felicity. "No doubt." He turned his wrist in her grasp and in a touch that was as fleeting as it was electric ran his fingers along the outside of her wrist and up along her pinky finger. "Especially with me."

He wanted to keep touching her, wanted to tell her she was more than simply patient. But he didn't know how to do that yet. "I should let you finish that so you can head home."

She blinked, looking a little dazed and said, "Right, sure. Home."

* * *

When Felicity walked into the imposingly angular, and glaringly new Special Projects building at Kord Industries she realized it had been over four years since she'd been this nervous. There was something about walking into a job on the first day that never seemed to get any easier. When the head of HR had called her last week, he'd told her someone would meet her in the lobby at 8 o'clock.

As her heels clacked against the slate tiles of the lobby an older women with a kind face and a grey dress came toward her. "Miss Smoak?'

"Yes,' Felicity said smiling. "I'm Felicity Smoak."

She extended her hand. "I'm Donna Landris, your assistant."

Felicity froze. "You're what?"

The kind face took on an air of alarm, "Your assistant. Is that a problem? I know I've only been back in the work force…"

Felicity's shocked brain finally caught up. "No, that's great. I mean… I was just an assistant…well before that I was third in command of the IT department at a multi-billion..." resisting the urge to count backwards she took a deep breath. "It's great to meet you Donna."

She shuffled her tablet into the other hand and finally returned the woman's handshake.

Donna looked a little confused and Felicity wanted to kick herself. Still, how in the world was she to know she'd have her own assistant?

Smoothing her dress, the other woman said, "We'll get you up to your office to get settled in, and then an HR rep will be in to go over your paperwork at 9:00. Then Mr. Kord," she stopped, "I mean Mr. Daniel Kord has requested a 10:00 meeting to introduce you to the rest of the senior staff here. Is that all right?"

"Sure," Felicity said. "That's great."

She followed Donna to the elevators and watched her hit the button for the fifteenth floor. The highest floor in building, Felicity noticed. The morning was a whirlwind of personnel policies and benefit reviews, and she had to admit Daniel had been right. He was paying her a ridiculous amount of money - almost twice what she had made in the IT department at Queen Consolidated.

As if summoned by her thoughts there was a knock on the door frame of her shiny new office, and she looked up to see Daniel, in a dark blue suit striding in without waiting for an invitation. "Good morning," she said, raising her eyebrows.

He grinned. "It is now. How do you like the office?"

Felicity couldn't help but smile. It had a wall of ten foot high windows that looked out onto the bay and a desk made out of reclaimed lumber that looked like a really sturdy piece of modern art. It also didn't hurt that it had one of the best desktop PC's she'd ever seen. Of course, that PC would be even better with a few personal touches, but it was a great start.

"How could I not like it?" she told him.

"Good to hear," he said. "So would you like the grand tour?"

"Yes, please," she said.

"And," he said, stepping up closely enough to run his fingers along the top of her desk, "after that, I think it's my duty to take you to lunch. It's something I like to do for all of our new hires on the executive level."

She noticed he wasn't looking at her, and she tilted her head. "And how many new hires are going to lunch today?"

He looked up and the grin on his face lit the dark eyes behind his glasses. "Funnily enough, you're the only one today."

"Funnily enough," Felicity repeated, smiling in return. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she could admit to herself that it was sure nice to be flirted with. Especially when the man in question was over six feet of sleek British eye candy.

He walked her to several offices and she met a half dozen people, all talking about potential projects that made Felicity want to immediately get to work. Her favorite places though were the production floors and labs. It was like Disneyland for grownups, and they had all the best toys.

When they were done in the material sciences lab, Daniel looked at her with a bit of an uneasy expression. "So I'm afraid it's time for me to introduce you to your boss," Daniel said.

Felicity frowned in surprised. "But I thought…"

"That I would be your boss?" Daniel took a deep breath, and there was something about it that made Felicity wonder if he was up to something. "No, we'll be working closely on the various projects, of course. But because yours is a technical position you'll officially report to the Chief Technical Officer. Though I doubt you'll actually require much in the way of supervision."

"Right," she said. "I suppose that makes sense."

If Daniel Kord was the definition of charming, her new boss was anything but. His office was a floor down and looked a bit like the land where computer parts went to die. Considering the building had only been open for a few weeks Felicity wondered how it was even possible for one person to create such a mess.

"This is Bryan Krause, our Chief Technical Officer. Bryan this is Felicity Smoak, the new Technical Advisor for Special Projects," Daniel said.

Bryan was middle-aged, paunchy and nearly as untidy as his office. His handshake barely grazed her fingers but his eyes raked over her with such disdain that she took a step back. "Well, that explains why you brought someone new in."

Felicity opened her mouth, but Daniel frowned and said. "Miss Smoak graduated from the top of her class at MIT, and I assure you I have sufficiently vetted her technical skills."

Krause grunted and sat down at his desk. "I'm sure you have," he muttered.

Felicity clenched her teeth; certain it would be a bad idea to punch her boss on her first day of work. Looking at the parts on his desk she decided to try another tactic to make her point. "I'm surprised you're bothering with those hard drives, since they're from that bad lot number from 2012. Especially since the terabyte drives that Queen Consolidated is producing are half the price."

Krause blinked and though his glare didn't lesson, it did seemed to change to something a little less smarmy. "Well, I'll think you'll find we'll do just about anything to avoid buying from a competitor like QC."

Felicity rolled her eyes, she couldn't help it. "It was nice to meet you," she said in a deadpan voice.

Grunting a response, he went back to work on the computer in front of him and Felicity gratefully followed Daniel out of the man's office.

An awkward silence prevailed as they walked back to the elevator and stepped on. Finally Daniel cleared his throat. "I did mention that he's only technically your supervisor, did I not? You'll probably barely have to see the man."

"Good to know," she said, folding her arms across her chest. However, it was hard to hold any sort of grudge as they stepped off the elevator to find Donna waiting with a cup of coffee and Felicity's first project for Kord Industries.

"You're developing lightweight body armor with integrated circuitry," Felicity said, taking her tablet from Donna and pulling up the e-mail Daniel had sent her. The images attached showed layers of some sort of bright blue material layered out over a metal framework, and included an attachment of about forty technical questions about the possibilities of using technology to enhance the material.

"Sound interesting?" he asked peeking over her shoulder.

Felicity couldn't help herself. Her mind was already spinning as to the possibilities of that armor adapted for a certain someone she knew. The color would have to go, of course, and she knew Oliver might pitch a fit about range of motion but…

"Felicity?" Daniel's voice broke into her thoughts and she shook her head, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry," she said. "Yes, it sounds amazing. I'll get to work on some ideas right away."

"After lunch," Daniel said pointedly, gesturing at the clock.

Felicity's eyes strayed back to the images on her tablet, but she nodded. "Sure, after lunch."

* * *

As Felicity made her way to meet Oliver that night, she found her thoughts were more jumbled than usual. Lunch with Daniel had been surprisingly fun. Yes, he'd played the charmer the entire time, but he'd also asked real questions about her, and actually seemed to be listening when she talked. The only thing that really bothered her was that he didn't seem to want to talk about himself, always answering quickly and deflecting the conversation back to her. In the end though, she had to admit, she liked him. That fact made it all the more confusing when she admitted to herself how much she was looking forward to her first round of training with Oliver.

She'd changed into her workout clothes at home and walked into the lair to find Oliver working diligently with a set of free weights – all by himself. Frowning she said, "No Digg tonight?"

Oliver dropped the barbell into the holder with a thunk. "He'll be here later, apparently they're doing something baby related…again."

Felicity laughed slightly as she set her bag and keys on her desk and pulled a water bottle out. "There's probably going to be a lot of that."

Though Oliver had sounded a little impatient, he gave her half a smile. "Good for them. It's nice to have something normal going on around here for once."

She nodded and there was a long moment of silence as they both seemed to realize what they were there for. It felt to Felicity like that moment at the beginning of a junior high dance where no boy one wants to be the first one to step across and ask a girl to dance. Since it was the twenty-first century… "Should we get started?" she asked.

He nodded. "Sure, fine."

As they stepped away from the computers and on to the training mats, Felicity thanked the heavens that at least he'd kept his shirt on. She knew it would be even harder to concentrate and deal with her nerves if she had to deal with a half-dressed Oliver.

He walked across the mat then folded his arms and faced her, "So, tell me what you want to learn."

The question threw her, the problem was that she didn't so much want to learn anything specific as she wanted it to be him that taught her. She'd watched him work with Digg and with Roy, had seen the special focus and surprising patience he brought to it, and she wanted to be part of that. Then she had another thought. "I guess I just don't want to have to be quite so terrified every time I'm in the same room as a bad guy."

Oliver's eyebrows lowered. "I'm sorry you've ever had to be."

OK, that was so not where she wanted this conversation to go. "I'm part of this team, Oliver, and I watch you and Digg and you're so confident in what you can do, physically. I just want some of that for myself."

The glower went away and his arms dropped to his sides, which seemed like a good sign. He nodded once as if to himself, and then smiled. "That we can do. But it will probably be less exciting then you think…not quite water slapping, but close."

"I'll do whatever you want me to," she said.

His smile slid into a different kind of grin. "That's good to know."

Fighting the urge to blush she said, "You know what I mean."

"I do," he said, his voice kind as he stepped closer to her. "You're a runner right?"

She pulled her head back a bit surprised, "Yeah, how did you…"

"The legs," he said, and then, if she hadn't known better she thought maybe he looked a little flustered. He cleared his throat, "So you've got good muscle strength there. You'll want to start doing some work on your core and, of course, build up some arm strength. In fact, you put some more power behind the self-defense Digg's already taught you, and you'll be surprised what can happen."

She glanced over at the weight set. "I'll start working on that."

"Good," he said. "The other basic we can start working on today is simply training you to change your instinctual reactions to a threat."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He didn't answer but rushed toward her in three powerful strides. Startled, she took a step back, but they were still almost nose to nose when he said, calmly. "Your instinctual reaction to a threat is to escape…which, honestly, is good at this point. But, if you're looking to project confidence toward an attacker, we have to help you control that."

Making herself look him in the eye, she said. "How?"

He took her arm and pulled her toward the center of the mat. "Let's start with something basic. When I come at you, I want you to take a step toward me, instead of away."

Walking toward Oliver Queen…well, that she could probably manage. "Okay."

For the next fifteen minutes, they kept at it, slowly escalating to the point that Felicity was not simply walking toward him, but was initiating a confrontation with some of the basic moves Diggle had showed her.

"Good," Oliver said, as she aimed a punch at his throat, pulling just short of connecting. "Now, I'm going to quit warning you about what's going to happen, and I want you to just act on your best fight instincts. I need a feel for what you already know."

This time when she charged at him, without warning he moved to one side and grabbed the arm she swung at him. Using her momentum he spun her, and pulled the arm behind her back. He stopped just short of painful, but Felicity, just as he instructed acted on instinct and shoved her head back toward his face.

With a grunt, she felt him shift his weight to one side and shove down on her other shoulder, forcing her onto her knees on the mat in front of him.

She honestly didn't know what happened. One moment she was fine, absorbing Oliver's attention, and enjoying what she was learning and the next she felt a swamping sense of terror. Suddenly the person behind her wasn't Oliver, it was Slade, or the Count – someone waiting to slit her throat or …

"Felicity!" Oliver's voice broke through her thoughts, and she looked up to see him, kneeling in front of her. He put a hand on her face. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have done that, I thought…"

"No," she said, and horribly she felt tears sting her eyes. "I want to do this. I just went to a bad place for a minute."

There was a flash of pain in his expression, something so stark that Felicity instantly regretted her words. Reaching up she wrapped her fingers around his forearm, "I guess I still have a long way to go."

He gave her a sad smile. "If it's any consolation, you just about broke my nose with that head butt of yours."

"It is, actually," she said, feeling slightly more like herself. "We should go again."

"In a minute," he said, softly. She realized just how close he was, and that his thumb was tracing a tiny warm path back and forth along her cheekbone. "Let's make sure you're all right first."

Her eyes met his, and she was really anything but all right. For months she'd been trying to push her feelings about this man to the side, but when he looked at her like that…

Suddenly she heard footsteps echoing on the concrete floor. Oliver was on his feet in an instant, offering her his hand. Feeling slightly dazed, she took it, climbing to her feet just as Digg strode into the room, a worried look on his face. He stopped momentarily, staring at the two of them, and Felicity took a deliberate step away from Oliver.

"What is it?" Oliver asked him.

"We've got a problem," Digg said gravely, moving toward the computer monitors and turning on to the local news.

"What kind of problem?" Felicity asked, her voice embarrassingly breathy in spite of a foot of distance between her and Oliver Queen.

Digg pointed to the news anchor who was interviewing a pale, but apparently healing, Detective Lance. "A four-headless-bodies-in-the-river kind of problem."

With impatient movements Oliver walked between them and turned up the volume on the news.

"Yes," Detective Lance told the reporter. "Unfortunately we can confirm that the bodies are all individuals who've gone missing in the past two weeks, and that they were recovered with their heads missing. That's all the detail I'm allowed to give at this time."

Oliver sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Felicity see what you can find," he said.

Digg shook his head. "Say what you want about Starling City…but we definitely know how to grow crazy."


	3. Testing, Testing

A/N: Leave it to _Arrow_ to advance the plot and storyline without actually airing an episode…are we all freaking out or what? Still, I'm trying my dangdest to ignore all of the fantastic casting and episode description stuff and write this story anyway. Hopefully you guys are still interested.

* * *

**Headhunting**

_Headhunting: noun (1) the act of searching for new employees, esp. professionals. (2) the practice of trying to destroy the power or position of a rival. (3) the practice, among certain cultures, of decapitating enemies and using their heads as trophies._

**Chapter Three: Testing, Testing**

As if four headless bodies weren't enough, Starling City also offered them up a bank robbery that night. Getting the guards out had cost him yet another bullet graze, this time just below his ribcage, only inches from potentially fatal territory. As he struggled his way into the room, Felicity came running at him.

"What happened?" she said, looking at the blood staining his jacket. She put her arm around him, her face a mask of agitated concern.

"It's all right," he said, wanting to get that look out of her eyes. "Really, just a graze."

She helped him maneuver onto one of the metal tables they'd salvaged from the Foundry. He managed to get his jacket off, but when he reached to pull out of the next layer he felt a sharp stab of pain. "Felicity," he said, feeling slightly dazed. "Help me with the shirt?"

Her hands were at his waist in an instant, gently tugging the fabric free. He wished it didn't hurt so damn much, so he could have actually paid attention to the way her touch felt against his skin. She was, however, close enough he could smell the mix of floral and citrus that was uniquely her, and by focusing on that he was able to pull out of the shirt without shouting or swearing.

"Oh, Oliver," she whispered.

The look on her face when she saw his bullet wound made him reach out for her, his hand landing a bit awkwardly on her hip. It didn't matter how many times she saw him stabbed or shot or bruised, she always looked like that – worried, and desperate to make it better.

"I'm okay," he said, trying to put some strength behind the words.

She pushed gently on his shoulder as she reached for a cloth to put pressure on the wound. "Lay back."

Reluctantly he pulled his hand away and lay down on the table. She pressed the cloth over the wound and this time he couldn't help the hiss of pain that escaped. There was a tremble in her voice as she said, "It's going to need stitches. I…"

She'd sewn him up before, but he knew how much it bothered her. "Digg will be here any minute," he assured her. "You don't need to do it."

"But…"

He let out a long tired sigh. "Felicity, I'm not going to die if my stitches have to wait two minutes."

As expected they heard Digg come in only a few moments later, what Oliver hadn't expected was the slightly annoyed look on his face. Oliver quickly identified the source of that annoyance when a second person entered behind his friend.

"Laurel," he said. "What…"

Without preamble she put her purse down next to Felicity and pulled a heavy stack of files from her bag. "There's something you need to know about those four bodies that were found earlier today. Something they kept from the press."

"What's that?" he asked, wondering why she'd come in person to tell him about it.

Laurel moved to set the four files on the table next to Oliver. "The only link they can find between the victims is that all of them, at one point, were rescued by The Arrow."

* * *

Felicity thought Oliver had taken the news pretty well all things considered. Of course that meant he didn't say much and looked intense, which was pretty much what he did 90 percent of the time, so that really didn't mean anything.

"Four people I saved?" Oliver said, his head falling to his chest.

Felicity didn't know if it was his sudden shift into stoic mode or Laurel's presence, but she felt the need to step away from him. Luckily Digg jumped in and started working on the bullet wound.

"Two people on that bus you stopped last spring, one of the Christmas Eve hostages, and someone you saved from a fire," Laurel said, pointing to each file.

"Could be a coincidence," Digg said.

"With my luck, I doubt it," Oliver said, wincing as Digg jabbed him with a syringe of local anesthetic. "Why would anyone want to kill people I'd saved?"

"Clearly, they aren't a fan of yours," Laurel said pointedly.

There was a tense silence for a few moments. Felicity wanted to say something helpful and comforting but she had no idea what that would be in a situation like this.

Finally, Oliver looked up at Laurel. "I appreciate the information," he said sounding exhausted, "but you could have called rather than risked the Glades in the middle of the night."

"I brought the files in person," Laurel said pointedly "because I know that the police and the DA's office have gone offline. Something about enhanced security." She gave Felicity a tiny smile.

Felicity sighed. "If I could just get access to a machine that was connected to the city's intranet I could set up a piggyback," she explained. "But that would mean…"

"I can get you that," Laurel said, interrupting.

Surprised, Felicity turned to look at the other woman. "You can?"

Laurel shrugged. "You can use the computer in my office."

Felicity was speechless for a moment. The last direct conversation she'd had with Laurel had been when she was smashed and suggesting Oliver fire Felicity. This was certainly an improvement. "Thank you."

Laurel just nodded and turned back to Oliver and Diggle. "I'll need those files back by tomorrow," she told them. "Or someone might notice them missing from my desk."

Oliver nodded, but Felicity could see him clench his teeth as Digg put the needle into his skin. He always refused to wait until the topic anesthetic had fully kicked in, which was so stubborn that she wanted to throw something at him. Of course she also wanted to walk over and take his hand and make sure he really was all right.

She blinked suddenly, realizing Laurel had come to stand next to her, presumably to retrieve her purse.

"So you too, huh?" Laurel said.

Felicity blinked. "What?"

"I tried to talk to him, to see where things stood with us, and he shut me down," Laurel said quietly as she glanced toward Oliver. "I assumed it was about you."

Felicity realized her mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut. She'd been surprised that they hadn't seen Laurel more over the summer but she'd just assumed it was because her father had been so sick for so long. Felicity had also had a secret dread that Laurel and Oliver had been quietly seeing each other, and he just hadn't said anything about it.

Before she could reply, Laurel looked back at her with a small smile and a raised eyebrow. "Apparently he's just being an idiot twice over."

Felicity let out a startled chuckle. "What a club. We should get t-shirts or something."

Laurel's answering laugh drew the attention of Oliver and Diggle back to the two women. Oliver looked more annoyed at the laughter than he had at the bullet wound. "Would you two care to share?"

Oliver's comment did nothing to end their laughter. Finally Laurel cleared her throat and said, trying to sound serious, "No Ollie, we really wouldn't." She pulled her keys from her purse, "I should go." She looked at Felicity with an understanding smile, "Good luck with all these boys."

"What was that all about?" Oliver asked the minute Laurel had left.

Felicity tried to look innocent as she shrugged. "Just a little girl talk." She reached for the files on the murder victims. "Let's see if any of this information helps us figure out who's out to get you…again."

* * *

Felicity quickly tried to hide a giant yawn, but saw Daniel smirk at her. With a knowing grin he said, "Headless corpses and a bank robbery, I'm guessing you had a late night."

She wasn't totally comfortable with the fact that Daniel Kord knew she worked for The Arrow, but since it meant she didn't have to lie, she supposed it was a good thing. "How did you know?" she asked as they pushed through the doors that lead to the testing floor.

He shrugged, "I have my sources. I don't suppose you could arrange an introduction; I'd love to meet him."

Felicity couldn't resist a smile. "He's a little shy."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Yes, I'm sure."

Their attention shifted as they approached the large work bench at the edge of the testing floor. On it sat a mockup of the top half of the new body armor. Felicity frowned as she ran her fingers over the bulge on the right side. "Still not thin enough," she said. The device she was referring to was an integrated communications system, sort of a cell phone on steroids, but they were having trouble manufacturing materials small enough to integrate smoothly with the armor's design.

"That's the first one that we could actually install," Daniel said. "And we couldn't have done it without your help." His voice came from just beyond her shoulder and she turned to see him looking down at her with an expression that made her feel a little buzz of happiness. "You truly are as good as I'd hoped."

She swallowed and looked down. "Thank you." She ran her fingers over the armor again, "I've never been involved in a project quite like this before. It's kind of awesome."

He laughed, and Felicity felt her smile grow wider.

Reaching out he put his hand on her arm. "Yes, it is isn't it."

Felicity looked down to where his hand rested on her bare skin. When she looked up he shrugged and easily pulled the hand back. "The next test is in a couple of minute," he said. "Would you like to see it?"

"Yes, please," she said.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and tilted his head toward a windowed viewing area. "Come on, then."

She noticed that while he didn't touch her again, he always seemed to be standing very close to her, and as she stood in the viewing area as the technicians set up the test, she looked up to find him watching her instead of the preparations.

"What?" she asked, unable to stop herself.

He blinked quickly looking puzzled. "I don't…"

She wanted to take it back immediately, but since she'd already let her mouth get ahead of her brain she supposed there was no going back. "Why do you keep looking at me? Did I only line one eye this morning or something?"

He shook his head, and if anything his gaze got more intense. Leaning toward her so that she could smell the spicy scent of what was inevitably his very expensive cologne he said. "Surely I'm not the first man who can't keep his eyes off you."

She swallowed hard, and felt the zing of that statement all the way to her toes. But just as she wanted to be dazzled by Daniel Kord an image of the way Oliver looked at her flashed into her mind, especially the way he'd looked at her last night just before they'd been interrupted by Digg and Laurel.

Still, Oliver had never once said anything like this to her. Well, not without a homicidal one-eyed maniac watching anyway. So she smiled at Daniel and said, "That's very sweet, but, um, we should be watching this test of yours."

Daniel's eyes roamed over her face for just a second longer but then he nodded and turned his attention back to the testing floor. After just a few more seconds the technician inside held up his hand signaling that the test was beginning.

Felicity watched in utter fascination as several rounds of automatic weapons fire were leveled at the new piece of body armor. She could see them bounce away, and couldn't help but exclaim "Yes!" when she saw that while the armor had a few indentations, there wasn't a single hole. "That is so cool."

She heard Daniel laugh again, and she realized that his easy laugh might be one of her favorite things about the man. "A successful test I'd say," he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. "There's just one more thing to check."

Felicity stared at him in curious fascination as he punched a series of numbers and hit the speaker button on the phone. He nodded out the window toward the technicians who were examining the armor and Felicity saw one of them reach for the communications device in the armor.

The technician's voice filled the viewing room through Daniel's phone. "Yes, Mr. Kord?"

"We wanted to see if the new device survived our test," Daniel said, obviously sounding pleased.

Felicity saw the technician turn to look at them. "With flying colors, Mr. Kord. Miss Smoak's design is definitely the prototype we want to build on."

"Thank you," Daniel said, disconnecting the call. He nodded at Felicity. "As smart as you are beautiful. Quite amazing."

* * *

Felicity was still riding the high of the successful test, and Daniel Kord's attention when she turned the key in the lock of her front door that evening. She didn't have a lot of time before she needed to go and help Oliver, but she was determined to get out of her truly painful heels and grab a snack before she headed out.

She pushed open the door and dropped her purse on the nearby table just like she always did. Then she turned and the sight in front of her sent her car keys sliding from her hand to clatter on the hardwood floor.

Bodies in her living room.

Corpses, at least a half dozen, blood staining the floral rug her friend Maggie had given her – not neatly lain out but dumped. A single manicured woman's hand, waxy with death, protruding from the mix.

Putting her hand over her mouth she turned and raced back out on her porch reaching desperately for her phone. She hit the shortcut button that dialed Oliver and she heard his voice in her ear. For a moment she couldn't speak – the image of what she'd just seen making her brain short circuit.

"Felicity?" his voice was worried now. "Felicity are you there?"

"Oliver," she gasped. "There are…there are…"

He must have heard something in her tone. "Where are you?" he demanded.

"Home. I'm home," a sob escaped her and she wrenched her eyes away from the sight that lay beyond the still open door. "Bodies," choking on the word she said. "There are bodies in my house."

He swore. "Go get in your car and lock it. I'm calling Diggle and Detective Lance. Don't move until one of us is there."

She nodded, mutely and then realized she would have to go back inside to get the keys. "My keys…I dropped them inside."

"Just hang on," he said. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Turning her back from the door, she took a step and wobbled on her heel, turning her ankle and nearly going down. Reaching out for the porch railing she lowered herself to sit on the steps. She tried to take deep breaths but her stomach swirled with nausea, and she realized that she could smell them, could smell the death and something else, a stinging chemical odor. With a choked cry she pushed herself back up, ignoring a throbbing pain in her ankle and losing one heel as she stumbled across her tiny patch of front lawn to lean against her car on the street. She put her head in her hands and tried to breath, tried to get control of her thoughts and her stomach.

She heard two sounds almost simultaneously – a motorcycle engine and sirens. The police car got there first and two uniformed officers stepped out. One of them, a brunette woman who looked younger than Felicity, ran toward her. "Ma'am, we had a report of some kind of disturbance at this address."

A disturbance? It was such an odd statement, that all Felicity could do was point toward her open front door. "In there."

She saw the police woman exchange a look with her partner, a much older man who looked confused. Felicity didn't even bother to explain, because suddenly Oliver's bike was sliding to a rough stop behind her car, and he was next to her in an instant.

He grabbed her shoulders and stared down at her. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and knew she could say something, but couldn't manage it. Staring up at him she tried to draw some calm from his steady gaze.

"Headless," she said finally.

"What?" Oliver asked, and she noticed he was a bit out of breath.

"The bodies," she said, just now realizing the worst part of what she had seen. "They didn't have heads." Another sob escaped her and she put an arm across her stomach.

Oliver shook his head, looking as lost as she felt, then his hand came up behind her head, pulling her into his shoulder. "It's okay," he murmured into her hair, running a hand along her back. "It will be okay."

For a few minutes Felicity let herself focus on the comforting motion of Oliver's touch, so grateful for the fact that he didn't let go of her. After a few moments she heard Digg's voice speaking to Oliver, but she couldn't bring herself to move. If she moved she might see…

Finally she heard a familiar voice that forced her to pull back from Oliver's grasp. "Miss Smoak?"

Oliver stepped away from her, but her hand involuntarily fisted in the sleeve of his leather jacket; holding on to him even as she looked up at Detective Lance.

"There's seven victims in there," Lance said looking at her with a serious but kind expression on his face. "Looks like exactly the same M.O. as the bodies we found yesterday."

"The one's The Arrow had rescued," Oliver said, his voice hard and flat.

Lance raised his eyebrow at Oliver. "Interesting to know you're in that little loop Queen."

Felicity felt a stab of panic but Oliver just tilted his head at Felicity. "She told me about it."

"Did she?" Lance said, looking between the two of them. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "In any case it looks like this wackadoodle is gunning for our masked friend. And clearly he knows Miss Smoak here is a connected to him."

"Do you know anything more about who could be doing this?" Oliver asked.

Lance shook his head, "Not yet. The coroner hasn't even gotten through last night's set of stiffs yet."

Felicity flinched at the casual tone, remembering the exact shade of red nail polish on that women's hand.

"Sorry, kid," the Detective said. "Look, this is going to be an active crime scene for a while. Do you have some place else you could stay? Some place safe?"

"We'll take care of it," Digg's voice cut in. Felicity finally looked up at him, and he gave her a small reassuring smile.

Feeling overwhelmingly grateful to be flanked by these two men she reached out her other hand, and Digg stepped forward letting her grab hold of his arm as well. For the first time since she'd opened her living room door Felicity felt like she could breathe. With it, her mind started to clear. "I'll need some things, if I can't stay," she said.

"You got a back door?" Lance asked.

Felicity nodded.

"Good," Lance said. "I'll have one of the uniforms take you in."

Felicity forced herself to let go of Oliver and Diggle and take a step toward her house. Unfortunately she'd forgotten about her missing heel and turned ankle, and only Oliver's steadying hand kept her from going down as she stumbled. She slipped out of the other heel and righted herself.

As the young brunette police woman approached Oliver asked. "Do you want me to go with you?"

She shook her head. "I've got it."

As she followed the cop around the side of her house she could tell that though the ankle was tender, it wasn't a bad sprain, which she was grateful for. It took only a few minutes for her to gather a few days' worth of essentials and be back down by her car. Luckily, she could get to her bedroom and bathroom from the back door, and there had been police officers blocking her line of sight to the living room.

To her surprise when she reached Oliver and Diggle her two friends were glaring at each other. They tried to mask it as she approached, but the tension between them was obvious.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Oliver said, giving her a quick unconvincing smile. "You're coming with me."

"I am?" she said, startled. Though she hadn't thought it through she'd assumed she'd be staying with Digg, though she supposed things were more crowded at his house these days.

Oliver's smile got more unsteady. "If that's all right with you."

"Sure," she said, unable to keep the squeak out of her voice.

He cleared his throat and nodded. "We'll take your car. I can come back for the bike later."

At the mention of her car Felicity felt a shiver go through her and wrapped her arms around herself accidentally sending one of her bags to clunk awkwardly on the sidewalk. "I don't have my keys," she whispered.

"They're here," Oliver said, pulling them quickly from his pocket. "Lance got them." He reached down and retrieved her bag, taking the other one from her shoulder.

As he moved to put them in her car Digg looked down at her. "This really all right with you? You can come and stay with me."

She tried to smile. "No, I'm sure it will be fine."

Digg shook his head and looked disgruntled. "Call if it's too much," he said, patting her elbow.

Oliver came back toward them and she noticed he didn't look at Digg. "You want me to drive?" he asked.

She nodded and gratefully sank into the passenger seat of her car. It took only minutes to reach Oliver's apartment. She'd known he'd moved of course, but the reality of actually seeing the spartan one bedroom was a very different thing. It was utterly utilitarian with no artwork or photographs, and everything was black or tan or grey. She wondered if he actually liked it like that or if it was a symptom of everything he'd been going through.

When he carted her things directly through to the bedroom she protested. "Wait!" she said. "I'll just…you know, take the couch."

"No you won't," he said flatly. "I sleep on the couch half the time anyway."

She watched as he placed her bags on the bed; the bright floral print of them an extreme contrast to the starkly masculine room.

Suddenly she remembered where they would normally be right at this moment. "So, should we get going? I could take a look at the copies of those files and see…"

She couldn't see the expression on his face, but she saw him shake his head, his hands resting on her suitcase. "We're taking the night off."

"But…" she protested.

She saw his shoulders stiffen and he went still. "Do you have to argue about everything?" His voice was hard and Felicity swallowed, stung by his tone.

When he turned she was startled to see how upset he looked, almost a little desperate, and as he spoke his voice grew in volume. "Felicity, someone broke into your house – your house, with the security system that Digg and I both personally checked, and left corpses in your living room. What if they had still been there? What if…"

She stepped forward and grabbed his arm. "I'm all right, Oliver."

He looked down at her, the pained gaze shifting to something warmer and softer that made it hard for her to breath. He reached up and took her hand in his. "You are taking the night off," he said again, punctuating each word with a pause.

She didn't trust herself to speak so she just nodded.

"Okay then," he said squeezing her fingers and letting go. He took a few steps away from her. "So your important question of the night is leftover Chinese or pizza?"

She laughed then, and sniffed, wiping the tears from her face. "Leftovers please."

"Sounds good," he said walking out of the room. "I'll go get it ready."

She took a long deep breath and moved to shut the door. In minutes she was standing in his living room dressed in pink pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. He eyed her outfit from where he sat on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table, flipping through TV channels.

"You don't mind do you?" she asked.

He cleared his throat. "No, of course not." Nodding at the spot next to him on the couch he said. "Sit down. Put your ankle up on the table."

Climbing to his feet he went to the tiny galley kitchen and came back with a plate of Chinese food, heavy on her favorites, a bottle of water and an ice pack. He handed her the water and the food, and then moved to carefully settle the ice over her ankle. She felt tears threaten again, "Thank you."

He looked up at her, his hand resting on her leg just below the knee. The smile he gave her in response was quiet, but it reached his eyes. "Glad to do it. It's about your turn."

She grinned, thinking about all of the times she'd patched him up.

"Eat," he ordered, heading back to the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later with his own plate, settling next to her on the couch. They were close enough that their arms brushed occasionally as they ate, and Felicity was surprised at her own appetite given how queasy she'd felt earlier. When she was finished eating she settled back more comfortably on the soft leather of the couch.

Her eyes felt heavy, and she was dimly aware of the sounds of the game. After a moment she felt a kink in her neck from the odd angle was at and she shifted, trying to get more comfortable. When her head brushed his shoulder she blinked and started to sit up.

"Here," he said. He put his arm around her and Felicity inhaled a stuttering breath as he pulled her head against his shoulder. Unable to resist the warmth and the comfort it, she turned into him, snuggling her head beneath his chin and bringing up her hand to rest it lightly on his chest.

Then she remembered his bullet wound from only the night before, and tried to pull away. "I'm sorry, I forgot…"

He pulled her back against him. "It's the other side," he reminded her. "Now relax." The last two words were murmured against her hair.

Closing her eyes, feeling the hard plane of muscle against her cheek, she knew that this moment was something different, something new, and she fell asleep to the sound of summer baseball and his hand rubbing warm soft circles against her back.


	4. Nightmares

A/N: So I'm having a hard time with this. I struggle with writing things that feel too out of canon, but I'm trying to get over that and finish this anyway. So, I've decided to try posting shorter chapters because that's worked for me in the past. Oh, and thanks to jaitoddja13, whose review convinced me people were still interested.

Nightmares

Oliver woke up to something tickling his face. It took him only a second to realize it was a mass of pale blond hair. Smiling a little, he shifted her a bit further down on his chest, and reached for the remote to shut off the TV. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was after midnight, and it surprised him that they'd slept for such a long interrupted stretch. He sat back and closed his eyes again, and then took a sharp breath as Felicity shifted in her sleep, her hand trailing slowly from his chest to his stomach. In this moment it was ridiculous to try to lie, even to himself; she fit in his arms, and he liked it – more than he'd liked anything in a very long time.

Leaning down he placed a kiss on the top of her head, then settled back against the couch once more. He was almost back to sleep, when she let out a sound of distress – then another, her breathing suddenly sharp and fast – nightmare. Sitting up a bit he shook her shoulder. "Felicity."

She didn't respond, but her cries grew louder and more agonized.

He said her name more loudly and she came awake, every muscle tense as her eyes snapped open, wide and terrified.

"It's okay," he said, keeping his voice firm but soft. "You're okay."

She blinked in confusion. Then in a raspy whisper said, "Oliver?"

He gave her a small smile. "Yeah." She blinked again and this time there were tears. Swallowing hard he brought his hand up to her face. "That sounded like a nasty nightmare."

She nodded, but still didn't say anything. The look on her face reminded him of the other day when they had been training; his bright, sunny Felicity pale and trembling, not able to even answer to her name.

"Look," he said, and he sat up a bit, keeping his arm around her shoulder but putting a little distance between them. "I know today was a rough day, but it wasn't just today was it?"

She looked away from him. "I'm not sure…"

"The panic and I'm guessing the nightmares," he said. "This isn't the first time it's happened, is it?"

After a moment of tense silence, she finally shook her head. It was just the smallest movement, but she gave a sniff and more tears fell.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" he asked.

She gave a little shrug and reached up to wipe the tears from her face. "I didn't want you to think I couldn't handle this. That I didn't belong on the team."

A growl of frustration erupted from him before he could stop it. "Felicity, I have nightmares more nights then I don't, and I saw ghosts last Christmas. Do you think I don't belong on the team?" 

Flashing him an irritated look she said. "Of course not, but it's your team."

"It's our team," he said firmly.

The smile she gave him was possibly the warmest, softest thing he'd ever seen in his life, and he almost kissed her right there, right then. Two things stopped him, first the realization that nightmares weren't the most romantic setting for a first kiss, and second, John Diggle's terse warning words about "getting too cozy."

"Want to tell me about it?" he asked, settling for pulling her back against his chest.

Giving a little shrug she didn't speak right away. He could tell she was still struggling in the pull of what she'd seen. He ran his hand gently down her back, shoulder to waist three times before she finally said, "I saw the bodies again." Her voice was small as she continued, "But this time it was people I knew…one of them was in green."

One of them was him; that was what she was telling him. "I'm right here," he said, lowering his chin to rest on the top of her head.

"What was your last nightmare about?" she asked.

Of course she would ask him. And of course, unlike many nights when his dreams were made up of vague flashes and obscure fears his last nightmare had been extremely specific and memorable. For the briefest moment he was tempted to lie, or evade the question, but she had trusted him, and he had to return that trust. Still he couldn't look at her as he spoke. "I murdered Slade because he murdered you," he told her, his voice fading to a raw whisper by the last word.

Reaching up she placed her hand on his face and tilted it down so he was looking at her again. "I'm right here," she said, echoing his words back at him.

"I'm glad you're here," he said. He felt overwhelmed in that moment with her touching him, snuggled against his chest, on his couch. It was a little too much for a late night on a hard day. He knew that if he didn't get some distance he might do something reckless, and that wasn't what she deserved. "But you should go, lie down, get some real sleep."

She blinked and he saw a flash of embarrassment and even hurt in her eyes as she pulled away. He sighed in frustration and then reached out and squeezed her hand. "I just want you to be okay."

That earned him a small smile, enough to know he hadn't screwed things up too royally. "Thanks."

He stood to help her up, but didn't move another muscle as she stepped away from him walking toward the door of his bedroom. When the door closed, he swallowed hard, scrubbed his hands over his face and did his best not to picture exactly what Felicity climbing under his covers might look like. Swearing slightly under his breath he collapsed back on the couch, reached for the remote, and watched a soccer game on mute until he finally drifted back to sleep.


End file.
